Hey, it's cool to be Catholic

Faith-filled young people celebrate Christ, fellowship

By RENATO GANDIA
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

This is visible with the high attendance at the annual Alberta wide youth rally, Oct 26 at Archbishop O’Leary High School.

More than 800 young people from different parts of Alberta, attended the event, an increase of 62 per cent from last year’s attendance of more than 500.

Roger Lamoureux, archdiocesan coordinator of youth ministry, told the WCR, “It just shows that young people are interested in researching their faith and digging into their faith and it’s cool to be Catholic.”

Some attendees were WYD participants while others were those who failed to attend because of their age.

Lamoureux is convinced WYD shed light on the fact that there is an opportunity for young people to look into their faith. It’s just a matter of finding out about it.

The high attendance and high spirit among the young people is a fruit of WYD, he said.

Young people sang, danced, shared stories and reflections, joked, dined together, as they were assigned in different family groups.

“They know it’s not going to be WYD again. But it’s another opportunity for them to hear the word of God and to share it with their own age group.”

Heart, Mind and Soul, the theme of the rally, was taken from the Gospel for that Sunday.

“We wanted to go to the next step and continue the message of WYD,” Lamoureux said.

In Toronto the youth were asked to be salt and light. In Edmonton they were told to “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. And to love your neighbour as you love yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

In his homily, Archbishop Thomas Collins, emphasized that one should put oneself third to God and to one’s neighbour.

“When we think of the meaning of the word ‘love,’ it seems to be simple. But not really, because love to be real has to reveal what it really is.”

"Love, to be real has to reveal what it really is." - Archbishop Thomas Collins

He stressed love is joyful, practical and total and has to be experienced in people’s lives everyday.

A guest speaker from the United States, Trevor Thomson, challenged the youth to think of three things that they love most but they can give up for the love of God.

Amanda Mikulasik, 15, told the WCR, “I can probably give up my friends, my family and whatever I have and leave all for God, leave everything to follow God.”

“You can’t live without God’s love. You can get caught up with materialism in the world easily. But you can live without all your material possessions,” the teenager from Whitecourt said.

She has been attending the rally for three years and looking forward to the day she can attend WYD.

“I can’t wait for WYD in Germany. I will be there,” she stressed.

Calgary’s Chad Meyers agreed and said, “I love rock and roll but I can give that up for the love of God. God and faith you can’t give up.”

For him, attending the youth rally is a great opportunity for a bunch of young people to get together and learn about their faith.

“It’s a good way of building community. It’s actually not difficult to talk to other young people from other places.”

Fort McMurray’s Nick Wong, 16, did not see the crowds in Toronto. But he was amazed at how organizers of this rally were able to gather this many students and how the people interacted.

“It’s certainly a different way of learning and teaching about Christ. I really get a strong feeling from what I’m learning. I learn a lot more here than just going to church on Sunday.”

“It will help me have a stronger relationship with Christ,” he said.

Tamara Kerik and Tanya Hall from Red Deer appreciated that they can connect with young people from other places.

Kerik said, “I think it’s important for everybody to get together to understand our Christian faith. To find out who we really are.”

At this rally she was reminded, “God is all around us and it doesn’t matter where we go and what we do in life. God will always be there to help us.”

Hall said, “It’s interesting to see and meet new people, see what they believe in and get new ideas, so I can challenge myself to see what I can do better to become closer to him.”

The Catholic band 180 from Radway provided Christian music for the event. The event ended with an evening dance.

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